The Houston Rockets caught a massive break in an attempt to extend their 16-game winning streak on Thursday night.
What figured to be a tough obstacle in a game at Dallas got a lot easier for Houston when Mavericks reigning league MVP Dirk Nowitzki was suspended for tonight's game. Nowitzki, the Mavs' leading scorer and rebounder, received a flagrant-1 foul when he hit Utah's Andrei Kirilenko midway through the first quarter of a 116-110 loss to Utah on Monday. However, the league reviewed the play and decided to upgrade it to a flagrant-2. Had it been ruled a flagrant-2 at the time he would've been ejected.
Nowitzki had been playing well recently, averaging 30.4 points over the last 10 games. Thursday will be the first game he's missed this season. In four games without Nowitzki in 2006-07, the Mavericks went 3-1.
Brandon Bass, Malik Allen or Devean George could take Nowitzki's place in the starting lineup tonight. A bit of a step down!
"We're just trying to keep this team loose and focused," Mavericks coach Avery Johnson said. "We have a chance to do something now about our position, and we have a chance to do it starting against the Rockets."
The Rockets lead the Mavericks by 1 1/2 games in the conference standings and will enter the contest having won their last five back-to-backs.
But they have dropped six straight against the Mavs .The Rockets have beaten them just once in their last 11 meetings, a mark that includes a five-game slide at Dallas."But we're a different ballclub than the three (previous) times we played them this season," Houston's Tracy McGrady said. "We're playing with a great deal of confidence; we're a focused group."
Houston hasn't even been slowed down by the season-ending injury to All-Star center Yao Ming, as the Rockets are 4-0 without him. (NBA Injury Report)
Houston has won 10 in a row on the road and has won seven consecutive games overall by a double-digit margin.
Dallas, meanwhile, has won 12 in a row at home. Its last loss at American Airlines Center was an 88-81 setback on Dec. 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the Mavs enter on a two-game losing streak (to the Lakers and Jazz).
Dallas has allowed its last three opponents to score at least 100 points, and the 116 points it gave up to the Jazz were the most allowed by the Mavericks since a 122-120 loss to Sacramento on Jan. 14.
This is the fourth and final meeting between the teams in the regular season. In the last matchup in Dallas, Jason Terry came off the bench to score 31 points to lead the Mavs to a 107-98 victory on Nov. 5.
Houston Dallas
Record: 40-20-0 (.667) 39-22-0 (.639)
As Favorite: 31-13-0 (.705) 36-14-0 (.720)
As Underdog: 9-7-0 (.563) 3-8-0 (.273)
At Home: 22-9-0 (.710) 25-3-0 (.893)
On Road: 18-11-0 (.621) 14-19-0 (.424)
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